How long is a century?

Born on Dec 15, 1907, Oscar Niemeyer turns today 100 years old: a legendary life through images.

Palácio Gustavo Capanema (1936)

Church of São Francisco de Assis in Pampulha Complex (1940)

United Nations headquaters (1947)

São Paulo's Ibirapuera Park (1951)

Copan apartment building (1953-66)

Casas das Canoas (1952-53)

MAM Caracas (1954-55)

Brasilia Cathedral

Brasilia, National Congress of Brazil

Brasilia, Palacio de Alvorada (1958)

Brasilia, Brazil's National Museum

French Communist Party (1966)

Sede Mondadori (1966)

Casino Funchal, Madeira

Memorial Juscelino Kubitschek (1980)

Liberty Pantheon (1985)



Latin America Memorial (1987)

Memorial for the Indigenous People (1989)

Catedral Militar, Igreja de N.S. da Paz (late '80)

Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (1996)

Oscar Niemeyer Museum (2002)

Auditorium of the Ibirapuera Park (2005)

Teatro popular de Niteroi (2007)

Estacao, Cienca, Cultura y Arte

In 2005, his projects "ESTAÇÃO CIÊNCIA, CULTURA e ARTES" was approved to be built at Joao Pessoa, the easternmost point of the Americas, at 34º 47' 38" west longitude and 7º 9' 28" south latitude.

Quick news for the evening!

Dekumo opens today and Pecha Kucha will take place this evening in the same location!

Kein Stuttgart 21?

Do you remember the new layout for the high speed railway station of Stuttgart?
Ingenhoven Overdiek project, which won an international design competition in 1997 and that i personally consider a very nice project, is actually part of a much large set of interventions that the city of Stuttgart will undertake starting from the next year.




Stuttgart 21, this is the name of the entire project, will begin in January 2008. The project, as a portion of the European high speed route corridor between Paris and Budapest, intends to change the main train station in Stuttgart from a head station to a transit station and sustains an improvement of the train traffic in the surrounding region. In order to do that, at the Main Station worksite, the tracks will be turned of 90 degree and moved underground to allow the transit of trains. The Hauptbahnhof (current station building) will be converted in museum.



On this wave, and thinking about the huge amount of people that this transformation will obviously bring, Stuttgart 21 also includes new residential areas, the renovation of part of Rosenstein park, a new building for the fare and a new railway station for the airport.

How it works:
Area A :
28 ha (334 sq yard) , which is at a central point , will be used for individual trade , culture and special use for over regional meaning. The immediate boundary next to the Schloßgarten will be partly devoted to residences

Area B :
43 ha (514sq yard) is distinguish by its neighbourhood, the Schloßgarten , as well as by Rosensteinpark and will be used as a high quality residential area and offices.

Area C :
roughly 29 ha (346 sq yard), will be redeveloped with residences and offices

The construction was supposed to begin in 2000 and end in 2007: that didn't happen especially because residents' criticism due to
- the high costs of almost 3 billion Euro.
- the long and heavy impact of works on Stuttgarters lives.

Every day in the streets, the activists of Stuttgart21-Nein, danke! ask people to subscribe their petitions against the project and undertake demonstrations.
On the other hand the city fills our mail boxes with brochures explaining how sustainable, and worthwhile the project is and what a huge payback will give to the city.


Kein Stuttgart 21?
For the moment, Stuttgart 21 is a daily conversation on newspaper and among people.
Country you go, debate you find!

Mercedes Benz Museum

Absolutely amazing design: UN Studio's Mercedes Benz Museum.
Besides the unbelievable luck of choosing the Cars and Stars day [exhibition day complete with a race of F1, F3 and GT cars, plus the participation of Raikkonen and Hamilton :), which we didn't know about], it was a cloudy day: that might be taken as a bad condition for picturing the MBM, even if i have to say i like the similar colors that the museum and the sky have!
The building is a total cool experience in terms of spaces..and if someone likes cars as well, the package is complete!
I will probably get back for more pictures and a less crowdy visit!











*pics by Nadia Mastacchi

Silence and boxes

Currently moving to Stuttgart, Germany.
Stay tuned!

From NIB to MIMOA: user generated ARCHives get European

"NIB starts an international survey in order to promote the best emerging architects around the world.
newitalianblood.com is the first interactive architecture, landscape and design network that since 2000 allows real-time self-publication of prizes, competitions, projects, ideas and texts. Unlike traditional media, participation, debate and freedom of expression are strongly encouraged and potentially unlimited. Self-publication, without any editorial interference, requires only a few seconds and it is available to all users for free".



"For European cities the Architectural Energy has become the foremost monitor for cultural and economic prosperity. Therefore MIMOA.eu bring this Modern Architecture closer. Your Modern Architecture, assembled, compiled and completed, synoptic, swift and always up-to-date. Architecture to be added, searched, visited and re-viewed, MY Modern Architecture: MIMOA".
Recently launched MIMOA [still in Beta Version] is for now a sort of little Phaidon Architecture Atlas for Europe: the big difference is that user decides which projects get in and which stay out. And eventually it will get much bigger than a Phaidon Atlas! It also might include projects by less famous architects in the near future.
It's worth a shot!